Report: Windows 7 SP1 Release Pushed to Q4'10

Now that Windows 7 has settled in inside consumer homes after the considerable marketing push from retail, attention is turning to Microsoft's next step in development – the first Service Pack.

Just to be extra safe, many IT professionals prefer to wait until at least the first Service Pack for a Windows version before implementing a new version of the OS into their departments. The reason is that the first massive wave of users will already have hit the OS to clear out any possible bugs and compatibility issues.

According to source of TechARP, Microsoft initially planned a 22-month development period for Windows 7 SP1 but is now looking to bump that up to a release sometime within 2010.

We've heard from various other sources that the updated target for SP1 is sometime this summer or fall, the TechARP's sources point to the last (presumably calendar) quarter of 2010. Such a release would put Windows 7's first service pack on a similar RTM-to-SP1 schedule that Windows XP and Windows Vista had.

While Microsoft hasn't detailed exactly what SP1 will bring, many expect it just to be a massive collection of the incremental patches and updates that are already presently available from Windows Update.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • dinamic
    don't care

    Reply
  • mister g
    +1, though when businesses get it that's when XP should finally start to lose a significant amount of users. Just my opinion.
    Reply
  • saran008
    Win 7 rocks w/o Service pack.SP Not needed so urgently :)
    I can wait a bit more also for SP.
    Reply
  • UbeRveLT
    What the hell does Windows 7 need a service pack for? Seems fine to me?
    Reply
  • uh_no
    good article till the unnecessary shot in the last paragraph...
    Reply
  • XD_dued
    If they try to hurry up the service pack it defeats the purpose of waiting -_-. Perhaps they realized this? :P
    Reply
  • Parsian
    windows 7 pro so far has been working extremely well for me since my install on jan 1st.

    the only complaint i had was at the beginning primarily due to the user interface but im used to it now more or less
    Reply
  • jakew120
    Is this service pack free or do I have to pay for it.
    Reply
  • kewlx
    Jakew120Is this service pack free or do I have to pay for it. free
    Reply
  • landerx74
    The Service pack once installed will deduct $100 from your bank account. Thats what my cousin Yosi told me.
    Reply